Walk softly and carry a big stick.
That saying rings true for Kyle Pitts, who doesn’t say much and certainly doesn’t provide anything in the way of bulletin board material for his opponents.
Kentucky took a different route this week. Defensive back Kelvin Joseph said, “I feel like the biggest challenge to (Florida) is going to be facing me, me and my teammates,” Joseph said when asked about the challenge of facing the No. 5 Gators. “We’re ready to play and we’re ready to show them what we’re about and shake back from this loss we took last week.”
Linebacker JJ Weaver took a narrower approach, singling out Pitts.
“Kyle Pitts is most definitely going to see me this week,” Weaver “… We’ve just got to be more physical than him. That’s it. He is a great player. He’s going to get up and jump, but he’s just never had J.J. Weaver on him before.”
Pitts didn’t speak to the media this week, still returning from an injury sustained against Georgia, but he did plenty of talking on the field.
On Florida’s very first drive Pitts caught a pass on the East sideline and beat Joseph in a foot race on the way to a 56-yard touchdown.
Challenge accepted, Mr. Jospeh.
“I knew I had him by myself. It was man, and when Kyle threw it, I just, I said ‘don’t trip, don’t fall, just run as fast as you can so that was something where I just had to break away,” Pitts recalled of the play.
Kyle Pitts second touchdown earned him a talking to from a referee and it involved another one Kentucky’s antagonists. Weaver sacked Kyle Trask on a third down and did a rocking a baby celebration, not knowing that a referee had already thrown a flag for Weaver making Trask in the facemask during the sack. Three plays later, Pitts caught his second touchdown and mimicked Weaver’s celebration, earning him a talkin’ to from the referee and his head coach.
“If you’re gonna trash talk somebody, better back it up. But I don’t know if it motivated, I think he’s just, knowing, I know Kyle Pitts, he’s an extremely motivated person,” Mullen said. “He pushes himself to be a great player every day. Maybe that was probably why I had to warn him about some of the talk celebration afterwards, the officials came, you know he kind of after, after it made his three touchdown passes, we kind of let him know.”
Pitts laughed it off, and promised there would be more celebrations if he gets into the end zone, and receiver or tight end has gotten into the end zone more than Pitts. His third touchdown reception gave him 11 on the season, tying him for the national lead. He’s an incredible talent and is putting it all together in 2020.